


Of Drooling and Panda Plushies

by The_Consulting_Werewolf



Series: We All Need More Krisho in Our Lives (A Domestic AU Series) [9]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Kid! Zitao, M/M, kid! Kyungsoo, some dark stuff but it's background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 07:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12552040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Consulting_Werewolf/pseuds/The_Consulting_Werewolf
Summary: In which, Kyungsoo becomes a big brother.





	Of Drooling and Panda Plushies

**Author's Note:**

> the events of this fic are set in 2023; Yifan and Junmyeon are both 33 years old while Kyungsoo is 8.

Junmyeon is experiencing déjà vu. Here he is again, after four years, with Yifan behind the wheel, his knuckles white with how hard he is gripping the wheel. It’s too quiet again, but this time their nervousness is shared by a quite eight-year-old biting his lips in the backseat.

Kyungsoo suddenly blurts out, “What if he doesn’t like me? Yeri cried when she first saw me remember? Because my eyes were too big?”

Yifan stops at the red light and whips his head around. He frowns at his son, “Soo, you will be a great big brother.”

“Yeah?” Kyungsoo doesn’t seem too convinced.

Junmyeon sighs and drags his teeth over his lower lip. “Why am I dying inside? Not like we are doing this for the first time!”

“Yup! It’s not your first time, why are you freaking out?” Kyungsoo asks.

Both his parents whip their head around and glare at him. They know their older son has a point but…Yifan smiles, “You are only eight, what do you know?”

Kyungsoo raises his eyebrows, “Baba, you forgot Mercury comes before Venus that day.”

Yifan rolls his eyes, “I am old, I am allowed to have problems remembering things.”

Kyungsoo widens his eyes and leans forward. “How can you forget about our solar system?”

Junmyeon nods. “Soo has a good point.”

Yifan sighs, knowing he has lost this round. “Anyway, Zitao has met you before.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo says as he falls back in his seat. “But he didn’t try to talk to me…”

Junmyeon shakes his head. “No Soo, he is just shy.”

Kyungsoo pouts and looks utterly unconvinced by his father’s explanation.

 

Huang Zitao, three years old, and currently curled up under his blanket chewing his fingernail. Today, Yifan-ge and Myeon-ge are coming here to take him away. His older brother will be coming too, Kyungsoo, whose large eyes are sort of scary but Woohyun-hyung had told him that Kyungsoo too came from this orphanage and he was the sweetest kid here. The Kim-Wus adopted Kyungsoo when he was four years old. And he has seen the three of them, laughing and talking amongst themselves. For a moment, he had felt envious at Kyungsoo’s fate, but then a few days later he learnt that the two adults wanted to adopt him as well.

Zitao cannot speak Korean very well, but both Yifan and Junmyeon speak with him in Mandarin, though the latter’s Mandarin is a bit strange. He was kind of intimidated by Kyungsoo at first, since his eyes were so big and strange. He didn’t know if Kyungsoo liked the idea of his parents adopting Zitao, but after the first meeting, Kyungsoo, did talk with him and Zitao wasn’t that scared anymore. Their conversations were usually short and scant since Zitao was still trying to understand the new language. Still his new older brother is a bit scary. He sincerely hopes they can be friends.

Zitao has made friends here, but he wants more. He wants the happiness he had seen Kyungsoo share with the two adults. He remembers very little of his life with his mother who came here with him a long time ago. She would talk to him in Mandarin while the strange man would use Korean and somewhere between their quarrels, Zitao picked up both languages. He remembers Howon-ge expressing admiration at his limited grasp over Korean. Even Yifan and Junmyeon were surprised.

There is a knock on his door and he pokes his head out of the blanket to find the door slowly opening to Woohyun-ge. He sits up, blanket slipping down his shoulders and the adult smiles, “Your favourite ges are here Tao.”

Zitao nods and hops down the bed, even though his knees wobble and his little heart races a mile a minute. He sees the small bag packed for him in the corner of his room and Woohyun picks it up. The older extends a hand towards him and he takes it gingerly. Woohyun-ge squeezes his hand and says, “Don’t worry. You will be fine.”

Zitao gulps and says nothing as Woohyun-ge walks him out of his little room.

 

Howon sighs. “Yifan, Junmyeon is right.”

Yifan scowls, glaring down at the folder Howon shoves under his nose. Junmyeon takes it instead and says, “You know he will ask questions one day.”

Yifan throws his hands up in agitation. “And what will we say? Hey, your stepfather killed your mother, and this is why we adopted you?”

Howon sighs again. “We have been through this in the very beginning. The case is closed, the criminal has been brought to justice, Zitao is safe and you guys are giving him a home and a family. But he will grow up one day, and he will ask you questions. I suggest you never hide the truth.”

Junmyeon nods. “Howon is right, Fan. We will have to be honest to him when he is old enough to understand him. Right now, he is a baby, he can’t tell lies from truth, but one day he will be old enough to know we all lied to him.”

Yifan takes a deep breath and looks out of the window where he sees Kyungsoo playing with a young girl. The late spring afternoon light falls on his son, who is grinning down at the girl and Yifan acknowledges what the other men had been saying. Kyungsoo lost his family to an accident, but Zitao lost his mother to violence. When his biological father refused to take him back, the system put Zitao in Woohyun and Howon’s care. Woohyun was visiting Kyungsoo when the couple got to learn about Zitao. They expressed interest in meeting Zitao and it was love at first sight for Junmyeon and Yifan.

Zitao had just woken up from a nap and his puffy eyes, coupled with his sleepy smile, melted their hearts instantly. Then his delighted giggle when they started talking to him Mandarin is something that Junmyeon knows he will cherish forever.

Zitao was thankfully playing over at a neighbour’s house when his stepfather killed his mother and the neighbour was kind enough to look after him while the police handled everything. So, Zitao only knew his mother was dead and his stepfather just left—not that he was going to miss that man. The child basically doesn’t know anything and the adults around him decided to keep it that way. But Yifan knows the older they grow, the more questions they ask you. Kyungsoo had finally asked what happened to his real parents last year a month after his birthday and he had isolated himself from his adopted parents for a day. Yifan remembers how that felt, he even remembers how Junmyeon silently sobbed in his arms all night, and he remembers how he couldn’t sleep all night. But most of all, he remembers the way the three of them cried when Kyungsoo finally talked to them and told them that he is glad he was with them now.

There is a knock on the door, and the couple get to their feet as Zitao steps in, a small, sheepish smile on his face. Yifan takes the bag from Woohyun and nods his head in greeting. Junmyeon crouches in front of Zitao and smiles, “Ready to go home?”

Zitao slowly nods his head and his smile widens a little. Kyungsoo returns to the office then and even though it startles Zitao a little, he smiles up at his new brother too. Kyungsoo smiles right back and it stops the thundering in Zitao’s chest. Even though his new older brother has scary eyes, he does have a very nice smile.

 

The last time they brought a child to their home the first time, Yifan and Junmyeon had to show him around. But this time, they have an assistant and Kyungsoo takes it on himself to show Zitao around as the two adults trail behind them with huge smiles. And why wouldn’t they be smiling? The sight of Zitao dressed in a yellow sweater two sizes too big for him as he grabs Kyungsoo’s hand, the sleeve covering his fingers as he allows Kyungsoo to drag him all over the two-storeyed house. is the cutest thing.

Kyungsoo shows Zitao around the kitchen, telling him he will show him the secret cookie hiding place later. Junmyeon and Yifan can’t even bring themselves to be affronted at that especially when Zitao giggles. Then the older boy takes Zitao to the living room and shows him the many pictures the family had taken. Kyungsoo says, with a huge smile, “And now, we will have more pictures with you too!” Yifan fights tears at that because he is so proud of his older son. Maybe Junmyeon shares his emotion as he squeezes Yifan’s hand. They finally reach to the room renovated for him and Kyungsoo opens the door with a flourish, “And this is your room!”

Zitao’s eyes gleam as he takes in the light pink walls with a small bed covered by a bright purple quilt, a table and a built-in wardrobe. He steps in and digs his socked toes in the soft grey rug underneath his feet. He looks back to Yifan and Junmyeon and smiles, “I like it!”

Yifan and Junmyeon breathe a sigh of relief, and Kyungsoo does too. He wanted Zitao to like the place and his parents just as much he likes them. Kyungsoo suddenly asks, “Hey Tao, are you hungry?” When Tao nods, Kyungsoo says with much excitement, “Oh, no problem! Baba and I made something for you! We hope you like it!”

Junmyeon extends his hand towards Zitao, “Come on, let me take you to the kitchen.”

Zitao skips towards Junmyeon and takes his hand with a grin. After they are gone, Yifan kneels and pulls Kyungsoo into his arms. He feels small hands pat his back and he sighs, “I am very proud of you Soo.”

Kyungsoo tucks his head on the juncture of Yifan’s neck and shoulder and says, “I am just trying to be a good brother.”

“And I couldn’t be happier.” Yifan squeezes the boy in his arms and when Kyungsoo complains about it, he lets go and cups his son’s face. “You will be the best older brother in the world.”

Kyungsoo’s cheeks redden but he nods his head and says, “I just want him to be as happy as I am with you two.”

Yifan almost chokes on the sudden emotion clogging his throat. He swallows it down and plants a kiss on Kyungsoo’s temple. The boy doesn’t like his parents showing too much affection nowadays (because he is a “big boy” now) but he doesn’t thwart his father as Yifan says, “Thank you Soo.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head and hugs his father this time. “No, thank you, baba.”

 

Zitao pulls out the panda soft toy from his bag and puts it on his bed. He had dinner with his new parents and brother, and they were so fun to eat with. He remembers how his mother always wanted silence at the table. But the Kim-Wus didn’t; they liked talking and laughter and Zitao thinks he liked it. He is Kim-Wu Zitao now as well, and he rubs the plushie’s belly as he mulls the name over in his head. Yifan and Junmyeon are helping him put his things up around the room and Junmyeon notices the panda plushie. He asks, “He’s cute, does he have a name?”

Zitao nods and plops down on the bed, plushie in hand. “I call him Zhú.”

Yifan laughs out loud, “Kid that just means bamboo, doesn’t it?”

Zitao widens his eyes and says, “Well, Howon-ge said pandas like bamboos a lot! So, I call him Zhú!”

Junmyeon fluffs his hair and says, “Don’t listen to Yifan, it’s a great name!”

Zitao smiles, “Thank you…appa?”

Junmyeon gasps while Yifan stops whatever he is doing. The adults share a look; it took Kyungsoo nearly a year to call them father. Junmyeon says, slowly, “Zitao, you don’t have to call me father if you don’t want to.”

Zitao shakes his head. “I want to.” He grins as leans on Junmyeon, “I didn’t have a father before, and now I have two!”

Yifan feels relieved and upset all at the same time; and Junmyeon picks on it as he reaches for Yifan. The taller sits beside Junmyeon and the latter laces their hands together. Junmyeon knows how Zitao’s background petrifies his other half, how Yifan doesn’t understand how Zitao’s biological father refused to acknowledge the child and he doesn’t understand the child’s mother who neglected him. At least, they knew Kyungsoo had been cared for before he lost his parents, but Zitao didn’t deserve it, especially when he is the most adorable and precious child.

Junmyeon rubs gentle circles over Yifan’s knuckles and cups Zitao’s face with his free hand. “Okay then Tao, if you want to, you can call me appa and Yifan baba, okay?”

“Okay!”

Later, when Zitao is tucked underneath the blanket and fast asleep, Yifan and Junmyeon step in his room to check on him. Junmyeon softly giggles as he notices the small mouth open in sleep and the sizeable amount of saliva on the pillow. He whispers, “Fan, he drools.”

Yifan notices and chuckles, “How is he drooling that disgustingly yet adorably?”

Junmyeon wraps an arm around his husband’s waist and rests his head on his chest. “And we are going to make it with him too.” His heart swells at Zitao’s nose scrunching up in his sleep; he is so small and so adorable and Junmyeon knows he will do anything for him already.

Yifan throws an arm around his husband as well and places his head on top of Junmyeon’s. “Just like we did it with Kyungsoo, eh?”

“Yup.”

Junmyeon searches for Yifan’s lips in the semi-darkness, the solitary bedside lamp lighting the room. He gently presses his mouth against Yifan’s and he whispers, “I love you, and I wouldn’t do this with anyone but you.”

Yifan’s grip on Junmyeon’s shoulder tightens as he whispers back, “I love you too, and I am grateful to have you by my side too.”

As they shut the door to Zitao’s room, their hands reach for each other and as they make their way down the corridor to their room, their hearts beat a little too fast. They had a tough year with Kyungsoo and they don’t know what the future will bring, but they know, that together they will make their way out of whatever life throws at them again. And there is excitement too, at welcoming a new member to their family and they hope that Zitao too finds his happiness with them.


End file.
